


The Boy who Smiled

by angeru_hatake



Category: Wedding (2017)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Canon Disabled Character, Child Abuse, Hurt, M/M, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeru_hatake/pseuds/angeru_hatake
Summary: Based on a Korean web drama Wedding (2017)."Ji Hwan-ah. Ji Hwan-ah."After that conversation in the field, you became more and more aware of your feelings. It was different from any other feelings you had. You did not feel like this when you were with other people.This feeling was solely for him.
Relationships: Ji Hwan/Sung Hoon





	The Boy who Smiled

**Author's Note:**

> I strongly suggest you watched the movie first to understand the characters better. It was not more than 30 minutes, so maybe you can watched it first and come back later. I did not include the scene that can be watched in the movie, but rather just showed what they might think during that scene in this story.  
> This is not beta'd. All mistakes are mine. Please mind the tags!
> 
> These are their characters' name in the movie (though they never actually used it)
> 
> Son Hojun as Ji Hwan 지환  
> Son Sukku as Sung Hoon 성훈
> 
> Enjoy~

"Ji Hwan-ah. Ji Hwan-ah."

You could not help yourself to stop imagining how his voice would be like when he called your name.

...

You never felt frustrated because of your hearing. You were labeled as a disabled boy for most of your life, but you never thought that the accident which cost you your hearing and your family was bad luck. You had forgotten how sounds were. You were never bothered by it. Your 5 years old self had to swallow your own cry and be a  _ good _ boy. You enjoyed your time alone. You never wanted to be able to hear, again.

Until  _ him _ .

...

Yes, you were never bullied - and you were grateful for it - but it was not like you were close with everyone else in class. That was how it had always been. You would just sit at the very back and corner. Unbothered by everything else. Until that new boy who came in the first month of your last high school year chose to sit in front of you.

_ Sung Hoon. _

"Hey, my name is Sung Hoon. Let's be friends!" You read his lips. You gave him a smile and nodded.

Your other classmate tapped his shoulder. Giving him  _ the _ information.

"Oh really?" He said. You watched his face to see his reaction and expected he would give an awkward smile and turned around, like most people did.

" _ Annyeonghaseyo. _ " He  _ signed _ to you. He  _ signed _ . Your eyes grew wide. He giggled, and signed it again to you.

" _ Annyeonghaseyo _ ." You replied to him, flustered.

"Nice to meet you." He signed again. Still smiling. By now some of your friends had gotten interested in both of you.

" _ Nice to meet you too. _ "

"Let's be friends." He was a bit hesitant, maybe trying to remember the correct sign. You nodded and smiled at him, grateful enough to see him using sign language. Then, he was busy answering your classmates' questions. He was a nice guy, you thought.

After that, your world changed. It was like you saw colors that you never saw before. You saw his smile. You saw his hands. You saw his lips.

He was getting popular day by day. He was a nice guy like you thought he was. He was always cheerful. He loved to help. He loved to smile. But he always stayed close to you. Before long, you found yourself getting dragged around by him. To the cafeteria to buy strawberry milk, to the field to play soccer, to the back of the building to secretly eat your lunch before lunch break, to the rooftop to sleep.

That one time he slept beside you on the rooftop, his head fell to your shoulder. You can feel his breath in your neck, his soft hair on your cheek. 

And that was the first time you felt that feeling.

You  _ wanted _ to hear his voice.

…

It was after the first semester midterm exam that you noticed something.

He was coming late to school. Almost before the end of the first break. With a disheveled uniform and.. is that a bruise? You saw him and smiled, but he just gave you a glance and sat without greeting you back. He was quiet for the whole period. You were worried.

On the lunch break, he ignored all your friends and walked out of class. You followed him with your lunchbox. He was going to the rooftop. Just after you closed the rooftop door did he turn to you. You stopped on your feet suddenly and expected him to yell at you to get lost. But he just stood there and looked at you with sad eyes.

"I.." You read his lips.

"What should I do?" Then he crouched and broke down crying. You were so surprised. You sat beside him and patted his back softly.

You  _ wanted _ to hear his cry.

…

A few minutes later, you both sat down next to the wall. You stared at him. He looked a bit better after crying, though he still looked sad. You glanced at your lunchbox in your lap and at him again. Then, you opened your lunchbox and put it on his sight. He looked at it and turned to look at you.

" _ Let's eat _ ." You smiled. He blinked. You saw his lips curved up. It is not his usual smile, but it was pretty good seeing it.

He nodded and took a fried egg from your lunchbox. You brought kimbap and fried egg for today. You both ate in silence.

"Do you have water?" He signed to you just before you finished chewing.

"Ah." You said out loud, cheeks still full of kimbap. You  _ did not _ .

He looked at you for a second. And he  _ laughed _ . 

You saw his lips forming some words but you could not read it because he was laughing so hard. You looked at him with a confused face. After laughing for a while, he turned to you and ruffled your hair.

"You silly. What should I do with you?"

His smile returned back. You smiled with him.

"Thanks." He signed.

You  _ wanted _ to hear his laugh.

…

You found out not long after that. He just told you suddenly during the lunch break when you sat together in the school backyard.

About  _ his  _ story.

About his old school. About how he got transferred after a fight with a bully. About his father. His  _ alcoholic _ father. About how sometimes when his father was too drunk, he would hit his own son. 

Turned out he was beaten by his father that day, in the morning just before he went to school. He just asked him if he could buy a new book he wanted. He was told that he was ungrateful and useless.

You read his lips and signs but you could not take your mind away from his eyes. You saw the pain in those beautiful eyes.

You  _ wanted _ to hear  _ him _ .

…

Days. Months. You spent lots of time together. You enjoyed being with him, even when you two were just sitting there doing nothing.

That day in the field, after the soccer game, after he hugged you and ruffled your hair when you both scored a point, after you ran to take a bottle of water because you forgot to bring it again, he asked you if you ever felt frustrated by not being able to hear.

_ Not until now. _

He asked when your happiest moment was. 

_ When I am with you. _

You looked at him for a second too long, but you could not find your courage to tell him the truth.

_ It's okay. As long as we can still be together like this. It'll be fine. _

You  _ wanted _ to hear  _ him _ calling  _ your name _ .

…

Three days.

It had been three days since he was absent from school. He did not read or reply to your massage.

In those three days you kept thinking about him. You could not focus on your classes. In the last period, you decided to pay him a visit. You asked your homeroom teacher his address and told her you wanted to go check on him.

…

You stepped out of the elevator. Glancing around to find the correct unit.

It was on the farthest end of the hallway. You hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door. Noone was coming to get the door. There was no doorbell so you decided to knock again. This time, after waiting for a while, you saw the knob turning.

What you saw after the door opened would never leave your mind.

There, holding the door open was a very different boy you saw at school. He was shocked looking at you. You notice his crumpled shirt and hair. And there those bruises again. He was not looking well at all. He was pale and sweaty. You tried asking him if he was okay. Instead, he pushed you away and you read his lips.

"Go. Go away. You can't be here."

You tried to stop him from pushing you. You could feel his body heat. He was most likely having a fever. You held his arms and looked at his eyes. You could see he was getting more exhausted by minutes. Before you could ask him again, he suddenly shifted his focus on something behind you. You followed his eyes. There was a man in his 40s holding a black plastic bag walking toward both of you.

You felt his grip on your arms tighten. You looked at him again. Now it was not a shock that you read from his face. It was a fright.

You saw that man saying something to him. He nodded. Then the man, who, by now you guess was his father, turned to look at you, smiled and pushed both of you inside.

…

He took you to his room.

He closed the door behind him and almost fell down from exhaustion. You help him sitting on his bed. It was not a 'bed' actually. It was just a pile of blankets. You asked him again if he was okay. If he needed anything. He just smiled at you. A sad smile. And signed that he was okay.

You did not believe him.

So you covered him in a blanket, took out your lunch box and a bottle of water. You told him to eat first. Next, you took out your small medicine's bag and gave him a pill for fever and cold.

This had become your habit to carry your own medicine's bag since no one really cared about your well being. Well, you were practically living alone even though sometimes your relatives still came to check on you.

He stared at you the whole time.

"Thanks." He signed. You smiled.

" _ It's okay. Don't need to say thanks. _ " You signed to him and patted his head.

He was still eating when he looked up and stared at the door for a while.

"My father is gone." He told you.

"Maybe he went gambling." You blinked. He said it like it was a normal thing to say. To say that your father went gambling and left his own only son sick at home.

You told him to sleep. You said you would stay with him until after dinner. He nodded. He lay down and before long, he fell asleep.

…

You just came back from washing the towel and changing the water in the bathroom when you saw his father stormed from the front door into his room. You hurried to the room and there the first thing you saw was him getting kicked in the stomach. You saw him jolted awake. You saw him being dragged by his hair against the wall and getting punched in the chest and face. You saw his long limbs trying to stay still and just protecting himself from getting too beaten up.

Then it hit you. It was not  _ right _ . He was just staying still taking all the beating. He was more than able to stop it but he just stayed still.

Before you could stop yourself, you ran to him and stood between them. You pushed his father away and stuck you back against him. You could feel his heavy breathing and hands clenching your arms. His father swayed a little.

He was  _ not _ sober. Definitely  _ not _ .

You saw his father shouting something, and those hands in your arms tighten more. He was shaking so bad in your back.

Then you saw that man took a short pipe from behind the cabinet. He swung it around and hit some stuff along the way while yelling and shouting. You felt the weight behind you shifted and you looked back to see him falling down against the wall. That was when you got hit on the shoulder. You knelt down and grunted, pressing your other arms on it.

The next thing you saw was his father laying on the floor holding his stomach. He held your wrist, took your bag and dragged you outside. You both ran down the stairs and he only stopped when you were in the parking lot.

He shoved your bag into your arms.

"Go. Don't ever come back here again." You read his lips. He turned around. You caught his arms.

"Wait." You said out loud. He stopped for a second and turned to look at you.

"Please. Just go away. I don't need your protection. I don't need you to save me. I don't need your pity. Stay out of this and don't you dare say anything to anyone about this." You almost could not catch what he said. You tried to sign to him but he turned his head away.

" _ Why? What do you mean? _ "

"Go. I said go!" You saw him yelling at you. You let go of his arms out of shock. He turned around and ran back inside. You were left there, standing alone in the parking lot. You did not know what to do. Should you report this to the police and come back here with them? Should you try to go back inside? Would he be okay? What would happen to him if he went back inside?

_ ".. don't you dare say anything to anyone about this." _

That expression. You knew it too well. The look of pity on people when they saw you. It was almost unbearable. To be the subject of pity. To be the  _ 'victim' _ . You knew it too well, it stopped you from running back inside.

You turned around. Clenching your bag, you walked  _ away _ .

_ He will be okay. I will be with him from tomorrow. We will talk about it when he is ready. I will not pity him because of this. He is strong enough. He will be okay. _

But that tomorrow never came.

…

He did not come to school the next morning.

_ Maybe he is still sick. _

And the next morning.

_ Maybe he needs more time to heal his wound. _

And the next morning.

It was on the last period of the third day when your homeroom teacher came to the class with  _ the news _ .

_ Sunghoon has been transferred to another school in another city due to his family matter. _

That was when you realized.

You should not have walked away that night. You should have protected him. You should hold his hands and stay with him.

You ran to his house. There was an 'On Sale' tag on the door. You crouched down there.

And  _ cried _ .

…

Just like that, he disappeared.

That boy who smiled at you was gone. You never saw him again at school.

Not on the last day of your classes. 

Not on the graduation. 

Not in the field. 

Not in the backyard. 

Not in the cafeteria. 

Not on the rooftop. 

Not in front of  _ you _ .

…

Then there it was. A few months after you were accepted to one of the top universities, an email congratulating you for your graduation came. You said thank you. You asked if he was okay. And as usual, he said he was okay. You kept replying to him. Hoping you could maybe ask him if you could meet him again.

But one day, it stopped coming.

He was completely  _ gone _ from your life.

…

For years and years you remembered  _ him _ .

That boy who  _ smiled _ at you. That boy who gave you colors you never saw before. That boy who dragged you around with him. Who sat beside you. Who hugged you. Who clenched your arms. Who was shaking behind your back.

That boy never left your mind. He tied your heart close.

And then came an invitation through your highschool friends.

A wedding invitation.

…

**Author's Note:**

> You can search for the movie in YT. There is one with Eng Sub too.  
> "Web Movie Wedding (2017) Son Hojun"


End file.
